The byte ( /ˈbaɪt/) is a unit of digital information in computing and telecommunications that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, a byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer^[1][2] and for this reason it is the basic addressable element in many computer architectures. The size of the byte has historically been hardware dependent and no definitive standards existed that mandated the size. The de facto standard of eight bits is a convenient power of two permitting the values 0 through 255 for one byte. With ISO/IEC 80000-13, this common meaning was codified in a formal standard. Many types of applications use variables representable in eight or fewer bits, and processor designers optimize for this common usage. The popularity of major commercial computing architectures have aided in the ubiquitous acceptance of the 8-bit size.^[3]

The term octet was defined to explicitly denote a sequence of 8 bits because of the ambiguity associated at the time with the term byte.^[4]

History[link]

The term byte was coined by Dr. Werner Buchholz in July 1956, during the early design phase for the IBM Stretch computer.^[5][6] It is a respelling of bite to avoid accidental mutation to bit.^[1]

Early computers used a variety of 4-bit binary coded decimal (BCD) representations and the 6-bit codes for printable graphic patterns common in the U.S. Army (Fieldata) and Navy. These representations included alphanumeric characters and special graphical symbols. These sets were expanded in 1963 to 7 bits of coding, called the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) as the Federal Information Processing Standard which replaced the incompatible teleprinter codes in use by different branches of the U.S. government. ASCII included the distinction of upper and lower case alphabets and a set of control characters to facilitate the transmission of written language as well as printing device functions, such as page advance and line feed, and the physical or logical control of data flow over the transmission media. During the early 1960s, while also active in ASCII standardization, IBM simultaneously introduced in its product line of System/360 the 8-bit Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code (EBCDIC), an expansion of their 6-bit binary-coded decimal (BCDIC) representation used in earlier card punches.^[7] The prominence of the System/360 led to the ubiquitous adoption of the 8-bit storage size, while in detail the EBCDIC and ASCII encoding schemes are different.

In the early 1960s, AT&T introduced digital telephony first on long-distance trunk lines. These used the 8-bit µ-law encoding. This large investment promised to reduce transmission costs for 8-bit data. The use of 8-bit codes for digital telephony also caused 8-bit data octets to be adopted as the basic data unit of the early Internet.^{[citation needed]}

The development of 8-bit microprocessors in the 1970s popularized this storage size. Microprocessors such as the Intel 8008, the direct predecessor of the 8080 and the 8086, used in early personal computers, could also perform a small number of operations on four bits, such as the DAA (decimal adjust) instruction, and the auxiliary carry (AC/NA) flag, which were used to implement decimal arithmetic routines. These four-bit quantities are sometimes called nibbles, and correspond to hexadecimal digits.

The term octet is used to unambiguously specify a size of eight bits, and is used extensively in protocol definitions, for example.

Unit symbol[link]

The unit symbol for the byte is specified in IEC80000-13, IEEE 1541 and the Metric Interchange Format^[8] as the upper-case character B.

In the International System of Units (SI), B is the symbol of the bel, a unit of logarithmic power ratios named after Alexander Graham Bell. The usage of B for byte therefore conflicts with this definition. It is also not consistent with the SI convention that only units named after persons should be capitalized. However, there is little danger of confusion because the bel is a rarely used unit. It is used primarily in its decadic fraction, the decibel (dB), for signal strength and sound pressure level measurements, while a unit for one tenth of a byte, i.e. the decibyte, is never used.^{[citation needed]}

The unit symbol kB is commonly used for kilobyte, but may be confused with the common meaning of kb for kilobit. IEEE 1541 specifies the lower case character b as the symbol for bit; however, the IEC 60027 and Metric-Interchange-Format specify bit (e.g., Mbit for megabit) for the symbol, a sufficient disambiguation from byte.^{[citation needed]}

The lowercase letter o for octet is defined as the symbol for octet in IEC 80000-13^{[note 1]} and is commonly used in several non-English languages (e.g., French^[9] and Romanian), and is also used with metric prefixes (for example, ko and Mo)

Today the harmonized ISO/IEC 80000-13:2008 – Quantities and units — Part 13: Information science and technology standard cancels and replaces subclauses 3.8 and 3.9 of IEC 60027-2:2005, namely those related to Information theory and Prefixes for binary multiples.^{[citation needed]}

Unit multiples[link]

Percentage difference between decimal and binary interpretations of the unit prefixes grows with increasing storage size.

Considerable confusion exists about the meanings of the SI (or metric) prefixes used with the unit byte, especially concerning prefixes such as kilo (k or K) and mega (M) as shown in the chart Prefixes for bit and byte. Computer memory is designed with binary logic, multiples are expressed in powers of 2. The software and computer industries often use binary approximations of the SI-prefixed quantities, while producers of computer storage devices prefer the SI values. This is the reason for specifying computer hard drive capacities of, say, 100 GB, when it contains 93 GiB of storage space.

While the numerical difference between the decimal and binary interpretations is relatively small for the prefixes kilo and mega, it grows to over 20% for prefix yotta, illustrated in the linear-log graph (at right) of difference versus storage size.

Common uses[link]

The byte is also defined as a data type in certain programming languages. The C and C++ programming languages, for example, define byte as an "addressable unit of data storage large enough to hold any member of the basic character set of the execution environment" (clause 3.6 of the C standard). The C standard requires that the char integral data type is capable of holding at least 255 different values, and is represented by at least 8 bits (clause 5.2.4.2.1). Various implementations of C and C++ reserve 8, 9, 16, 32, or 36 bits for the storage of a byte.^[10][11] The actual number of bits in a particular implementation is documented as CHAR_BIT as implemented in the limits.h file. Java's primitive byte data type is always defined as consisting of 8 bits and being a signed data type, holding values from −128 to 127.

In data transmission systems a byte is defined as a contiguous sequence of binary bits in a serial data stream, such as in modem or satellite communications, which is the smallest meaningful unit of data. These bytes might include start bits, stop bits, or parity bits, and thus could vary from 7 to 12 bits to contain a single 7-bit ASCII code.^{[citation needed]}

Notes[link]

1. ^ "The symbol B for byte is not international and should not be confused with the symbol B for bel."

See also[link]

• Data hierarchy
• Primitive data type

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011)

Kevin Costner
visiting Andrews Air Force Base in 2003
Born	Kevin Michael Costner (1955-01-18) January 18, 1955 (age 57) Lynwood, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, producer, director; musician
Years active	1974–present
Spouse	Cindy Silva (1978–1994) Christine Baumgartner (2004–present)
Children	7

Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, singer, musician, producer, director, and businessman. He has won two Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards and has been nominated for three BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards. Costner's roles include Lt. John J. Dunbar in the film Dances with Wolves, Jim Garrison in JFK, Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams, Robin Hood in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Crash Davis in Bull Durham, Robert "Butch" Haynes in A Perfect World, Frank Farmer in The Bodyguard, Lt. Cmdr. Tom Farrell in No Way Out, and Eliot Ness in The Untouchables. Costner also founded the band Modern West, and has performed with the band since 2007.

Early life[link]

Born in Lynwood, California, the youngest of three sons (the middle of whom died at birth). His mother, Sharon Rae (née Tedrick), was a welfare worker, and his father, William Costner, was an electrician and later utilities executive at Southern California Edison.^[1][2] Costner's patrilineal ancestry originates with German immigrants to North Carolina in the 1700s;^[3] he also has English and Irish ancestry, and has said that one of his ancestors had "married a Cherokee woman".^[3][4][5][6] Costner was raised Baptist.^[7] He attended Cabrillo Middle School and Villa Park High School. Costner was not academically inclined. Rather, he enjoyed sports, took piano lessons, wrote poetry and sang in the First Baptist Choir.^[1][8] He has stated that a viewing of the film How the West Was Won at the age of seven had "formed" his childhood.^[3]

Spending his teenage years in various parts of California as his father's career progressed,^[3] Costner has described this as a period when he "lost a lot of confidence", having to make new friends often.^[3] Costner lived in Orange County, then in Visalia (Tulare County), attending Mt. Whitney High School, and then back to Ventura, graduating from Buena High School in 1973. He went on to earn a B.A. in marketing and finance from California State University, Fullerton, in 1978.^[3]

Post-graduation[link]

Costner became interested in acting while in his last year of college,^[3] and on graduation married Cindy Silva. The couple honeymooned in Puerto Vallarta and on the return plane journey had a chance encounter with actor and fellow passenger Richard Burton, who had purchased all the seats around him for solitude. Burton agreed to speak to Costner after he finished his book. Costner, who had been taking acting classes, but had not told his wife about his desire to be an actor, watched Burton closely and approached when Burton gestured. Costner told Burton that he would prefer that his life was not filled with the type of drama that had followed Burton and asked if he would have to tolerate that if he became an actor. Burton replied, "You have green eyes. I have green eyes. I think you'll be fine." After landing, Burton's limousine pulled up to the curb where Costner and Cindy were waiting for a taxi, where Burton wished Costner luck. Costner would never see Burton again, but credits Burton with partially contributing to his career.^[1][9]

Having agreed to undertake a job as a marketing executive on return, Costner began taking acting lessons five nights a week, with the support of his wife.^[3] His marketing job lasted 30 days. He took work which allowed him to develop his acting skills via tuition, including working on fishing boats, as a truck driver, and giving tours of stars' Hollywood homes to support the couple while he also made the audition rounds.^[1]

Career[link]

Acting[link]

Costner in 2003

Costner allegedly made his film debut in the film Sizzle Beach, U.S.A. Although a biography claims it was actually filmed in the winter of 1978-1979, the film was not released until 1986.

Costner made a very brief cameo in the 1982 Ron Howard film Night Shift, he is listed in the credits as 'Frat Boy #1' and appears at the climax of a frat-style, blow-out party in the New York City morgue, when the music is suddenly stopped by a frantic Henry Winkler, Costner can be seen holding a beer and looking surprised at the sudden halt of celebration.

He appeared in a commercial for the Apple Lisa and Table for Five in 1983, and, the same year, had a small role in the nuclear holocaust film Testament. Later, he was cast in The Big Chill and filmed several scenes that were planned as flashbacks, but they were removed from the final cut.^[3] His role was that of Alex, the friend who committed suicide, the event that brings the rest of the cast together. All that is seen of him are his hair and his slashed wrists as the mortician dresses his corpse in the movie's opening scenes.^[10] Costner was a friend of director Lawrence Kasdan, who promised the actor a role in a future project.^[3] That became 1985's Silverado and a breakout role for Costner.^[3] He also starred that year in the smaller films Fandango and American Flyers.

Full-blown movie star status for Costner arrived in 1987, when he starred as federal agent Eliot Ness in The Untouchables and in the leading role of the thriller No Way Out.^[3] He solidified his A-list status in the baseball-themed films Bull Durham (1988) and Field of Dreams (1989).^[3]

Costner's next success came with the epic Dances with Wolves (1990).^[3] He directed and starred in the film and served as one of its producers.^[3] The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including two for him personally (Best Picture and Best Director).^[3] The same year saw the release of Revenge, in which he starred along with Anthony Quinn and Madeleine Stowe, directed by Tony Scott (Costner had wanted to direct it himself).

He followed this with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), the Oliver Stone-directed JFK (1991), The Bodyguard (1992), and Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World (1993), all of which provided box office or critical acclaim.^[3]

He then took the title role in the biopic Wyatt Earp (1994), directed by Kasdan. It received bad reviews and flopped^{[citation needed]} at the box office. The science fiction-post-apocalyptic epics Waterworld (1995) and The Postman (1997), the latter of which Costner also directed, were both commercial disappointments and both largely regarded by critics as artistic failures.^[3] However, The Postman results were worse than Waterworld and ended up "winning" five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Director for Costner.^[11]

Costner then starred in the golf comedy Tin Cup (1996) for Ron Shelton, who had previously directed him in Bull Durham.^[3] He developed the film Air Force One and was set to play the lead role of the President, but ultimately decided to concentrate on finishing The Postman instead. He personally offered the project to Harrison Ford.

His career revived somewhat in 2000 with Thirteen Days, in which he portrayed a top adviser to John F. Kennedy. The western Open Range, which he directed and starred in, received critical acclaim in 2003, and was a surprise success commercially. He received some of his best reviews for his supporting role as retired professional baseball player Denny Davies in The Upside of Anger, for which he received a nomination from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and won the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor.

After that, Costner starred in The Guardian and in Mr. Brooks, in which he portrayed a serial killer. In 2008, Costner starred in Swing Vote. Costner was honored on September 6, 2006 when his hand and foot prints were set in concrete in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre alongside those of other celebrated actors and entertainers.

In 2010, The Company Men debuted on the Sundance Festival starring Costner with Ben Affleck. It had good reviews. It was released in cinemas worldwide in January 2011. The film was considered to be an Oscar contender, but did not get a nomination.

Costner announced that he would be returning to the director's chair for the first time in seven years in 2011 with A Little War of Our Own. The film is about a local sheriff who must keep his town from erupting into violence during World War II. The other lead role is that of a German U-boat captain. The screenplay is by Dan Gordon, who co-wrote another sheriff movie for Costner, 1994's Wyatt Earp. In January 2012 Costner had to admit funding did not come through, and that he still hopes to make it in 2013.

He was also about to team up again with director Kevin Reynolds in Learning Italian. Costner would play a CIA agent stationed in a coastal Italian town in order to keep an eye on a KGB operative. However, the movie did not get past pre-production phase because they could not get the money together and it is currently not known if the movie will ever be made.

He also appears, as a special cameo, in Funny or Die's "Field of Dreams 2: Lockout".

Warner Bros. confirmed that Costner would portray Jonathan Kent in the upcoming rebooted Superman film, Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder.^[12] In 2011, Costner confirmed his role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.^[13] Later on, it was announced that Costner had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, most likely to be the TV series directed by Kevin Reynolds called Hatfields & McCoys.^{[citation needed]}

Country music[link]

Costner on stage in July 2010

Costner is the singer in Kevin Costner & Modern West, a country rock band which he founded with the encouragement of his wife Christine. They began a worldwide tour in October 2007, which included shows in Istanbul and Rome. The group also performed at NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Daytona International Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.

The band released a country album, Untold Truths, on November 11, 2008 on Universal South Records. The album peaked at #61 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and #35 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Three singles ("Superman 14", "Long Hot Night" and "Backyard") have been released to radio, although none have charted. The single "Superman 14" has been made into a live music video.

In 2009, they went on tour with opening act The Alternate Routes. In August, at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta, Costner and the band were scheduled next on stage when a severe thunderstorm struck, collapsing the stage and stands on the main stage. One person was reported dead and forty injured.^[14] Later, an auction was held to raise money for the two young sons of the woman killed. A dinner with Costner was auctioned off for $41,000. Two guitars, one autographed by Costner, helped raise another $10,000 each.^[15]

A second Kevin Costner and Modern West album, Turn It On, was released in February 2010 in Europe^[16] and was supported by a European tour.^[17]

Other ventures[link]

Baseball[link]

Several of Costner's films have included a baseball theme. They include Chasing Dreams, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, For Love of the Game and The Upside of Anger, in which his character is a former pro baseball player.

He has a home in Austin, Texas and sometimes appears at University of Texas baseball practices and games. Costner is a close friend of Longhorns baseball coach Augie Garrido from Garrido's days coaching at Cal State Fullerton, the actor's alma mater. He cast Garrido to play the role of the Yankee manager in For Love of the Game. He tries to attend every College World Series game that Cal State Fullerton plays in Omaha, Nebraska.

Costner is a partial owner of the Zion, Illinois-based Lake County Fielders independent baseball team team in the North American League. The Fielders name is an homage to Field of Dreams, with the logo showing a ballplayer standing amid a field of corn.^[18][19]

Business interests[link]

Costner owns 100% of the Midnight Star casino, in Deadwood, South Dakota. The casino, its sports bar Diamond Lil's, and its restaurant Jake's are named after characters and locations from the movie Silverado. The facility contains posters, costumes, and other memorabilia from Costner's films.

In July 2004, Costner fired Francis and Carla Caneva, who managed the Midnight Star. A judge subsequently ordered Costner to pay a percentage of $6.1 million to buy out the Canevas as his business partners. In October 2006, Costner asked the South Dakota Supreme Court to re-examine the ruling, as an accountant hired by the actor had determined the market value of the casino to be $3.1 million.^[20]

In 1995, Costner began developing oil separation machines based on a patent he purchased from the US government. The machines developed by the company were of little commercial interest until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, when BP took six of the machines from a company in which Costner owned an interest, Ocean Therapy Solutions, for testing in late May 2010.^[21] On June 16, 2010 BP entered into a lease with Ocean Therapy Solutions for 32 of the oil-water separation devices.^[22] Although Spyron Contoguris and Stephen Baldwin previously sold their interests in Ocean Therapy Solutions in mid-June to another investor in the company, they filed a lawsuit in Louisiana District Court claiming $10.64 million for securities fraud and misrepresentation. The suit claims that Costner kept a meeting with BP secret from them, and the secret meeting resulted in an $18 million down payment on a $52 million purchase and that after the down payment but before any announcement another investor used part of the downpayment to buy out their shares, thus excluding them from their share of the profits from the total sale.^[23] The suit claims that, despite public statements by Costner, Ocean Therapy Solutions, BP and others to the contrary, Baldwin and Contogouris were told that BP was still testing the machines and had not yet committed to lease the machines from Ocean Therapy Solutions and that the other investor in Ocean Therapy Solutions purchased their shares for $1.4 million to Baldwin and $500,000, to Contogouris.^[24]

Philanthropy[link]

Costner serves on an honorary board for The National World War I Museum in Kansas City. In spring 2011, he recorded two radio spots for the museum that were aired on Kansas City Royals Radio Network.^[25]

NASCAR[link]

Costner was named ceremonial Grand Marshal of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series' Auto Club 500 which took place on February 25, 2007, at the California Speedway.^[26] In 2008, he worked with the NASCAR Media Group and CMT Films to help produce the NASCAR Documentary, The Ride of Their Lives which would be released in 2009. Costner would be the narrator for that documentary. Also in 2009, he was named the spokesperson for NASCAR Day which took place on May 15. The next day, May 16, he and his country music band would perform in the infield of Lowe's Motor Speedway as well as participate as a judge in the 2nd annual Pennzoil Victory Challenge before the 25th Running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

Personal life[link]

Relationships[link]

While in college, Costner was a member of Delta Chi fraternity.^[1] He started dating fellow student Cindy Silva in March 1975, and their subsequent marriage three years later produced three children: Anne "Annie" Clayton (born April 15, 1984), Lily McCall (born August 4, 1986) and Joseph "Joe" (born January 31, 1988). The couple divorced in 1994 after 16 years of marriage. He has a son, Liam (born in 1996), with Bridget Rooney, with whom he had a brief relationship following his divorce.^[27]

In 1996, he cohabited with supermodel Elle MacPherson.^[28]

On September 25, 2004, Costner married his girlfriend of four years, German-American model and handbag designer Christine Baumgartner,^[29] at his ranch in Aspen, Colorado. Costner took his new bride for a canoe ride on a lake following the ceremony. The couple honeymooned in Scotland.^[30] Their first child, Cayden Wyatt Costner, was born on May 6, 2007 at a Los Angeles hospital.^[31] Their second son, Hayes Logan, was born on February 12, 2009,^[32] and their third child, a daughter named Grace Avery, was born on June 2, 2010.^[33]

Sports[link]

The actor plays regularly in celebrity golf tournaments, including the PGA Tour's annual pro-am at Pebble Beach, California and the BMW Pro-Am held each April in Greenville County, South Carolina. Costner is a member at Birnam Wood Golf Club in California.

Costner is a fan of the London football team Arsenal F.C. While filming Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, he attended a match and has followed the team ever since.^[34]

Political activism[link]

Since 1992, Costner has financially supported a variety of Democratic Party politicians, including Al Gore and Tom Daschle, but also made contributions to the Republican Party's Phil Gramm as late as 1995.^[35] He said publicly in 2008 that he has no ambition to run for political office, adding "I've lived quite a colorful life."^[36]

In the final days before the 2008 election, Costner campaigned for Barack Obama, visiting various places in Colorado—a state in which he has a home. In his speech, Costner stated the need for young voters to get to the polls, early and with enthusiasm. "We were going to change the world and we haven't," Costner said at a Colorado State University rally. "My generation didn't get it done, and we need you to help us."^[37]

Filmography[link]

Mentions & Popular Culture[link]

He is mentioned in Lil Cory's "Ballin' Remix" from the mixtape Da Return.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kevin Costner

• AMC's Photo Gallery : Kevin Costner, Hollywood Icon
• KevinCostner.com – Official website
• Kevin Costner at the Internet Movie Database
• JewReview.net interview with Kevin Costner
• Kevin Costner – Biography, filmography and awards
• Films They Would Rather Forget – Shadows Run Black
• Review of Kevin's Country Band at www.CountryMusicpride.com

Viggo Mortensen
Mortensen at a award ceremony to honor Dennis Hopper in March 2010
Born	Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (1958-10-20) October 20, 1958 (age 53) New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	St. Lawrence University
Occupation	Actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter
Years active	1984–present
Spouse	Exene Cervenka (m. 1987–1998) «start: (1987)–end+1: (1999)»"Marriage: Exene Cervenka to Viggo Mortensen" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Viggo_Mortensen)

Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. (born October 20, 1958) is an American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner (1991), Carlito's Way (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), Daylight (1996), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), A Perfect Murder (1998), and A Walk on the Moon (1999).

Mortensen made his major breakthrough in 2001 with his role as Aragorn in the epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings. In 2005, Mortensen won critical acclaim for David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence. Two years later, another Cronenberg film Eastern Promises (2007) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Other well-received films in recent years have included Appaloosa (2008) and the 2009 film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road.

Aside from acting, his other artistic pursuits include fine arts, photography, poetry, and music. In 2002, he founded the Perceval Press to publish the works of little-known artists and authors. Mortensen is politically active. He campaigned for Dennis Kucinich in the 2008 United States presidential election, and later endorsed Barack Obama for President.

Early life[link]

Mortensen was born in New York City. His mother, Grace Gamble (née Atkinson), was American, and his father, Viggo Peter Mortensen, Sr., was Danish; the two met in Norway.^[1][2] His maternal grandfather was from Nova Scotia, Canada,^[3][4] and his maternal grandmother's family was from New England.^[5][6]

The family moved to Venezuela, then Denmark, and eventually settled in Argentina, taking residency in the Argentine provinces of Córdoba, Chaco and Buenos Aires, where he attended primary school and acquired fluent Spanish, while his father managed chicken farms and ranches.^[7] They remained there until Mortensen was eleven, when his parents divorced. With his mother he returned to New York, where he spent the rest of his childhood, graduating from Watertown High School in Watertown, New York.^[8]

He then attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, earning a degree in 1980. Afterward, he went to Europe and lived in Spain, England, and Denmark, where he took various jobs such as driving a truck in Esbjerg and selling flowers in Copenhagen. After two years, he returned to the United States to pursue an acting career.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Acting career[link]

After several years of experience in live theater, Mortensen made his first film appearance playing an Amish farmer in Peter Weir's Witness (Mortensen had actually acted in at least one prior film, The Purple Rose of Cairo, but his scenes in the latter film were deleted from the final cuts). Also in 1985, he was cast in the role of Bragg on Search for Tomorrow. Mortensen's 1987 performance in Bent at the Coast Playhouse, Los Angeles, won him a Dramalogue Critics' Award. Coincidentally, the play, about homosexual concentration camp prisoners, was originally brought to prominence by Ian McKellen, with whom Mortensen later costarred in The Lord of the Rings. In 1987 Mortensen guest starred as a corrupt police detective on the hit series Miami Vice.

During the 1990s, Mortensen appeared in supporting roles in a variety of films, including Jane Campion's The Portrait of a Lady, Young Guns II, Prison, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Sean Penn's The Indian Runner, The Crew, which won the São Paulo Film Festival Audience Award, Brian de Palma's Carlito's Way, Crimson Tide, G.I. Jane, Daylight, A Walk on the Moon, American Yakuza, Charles Robert Carner's remake Vanishing Point, Philip Ridley's two films The Reflecting Skin and The Passion of Darkly Noon, A Perfect Murder and Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998 remakes of two Alfred Hitchcock's movies Dial M for Murder and Psycho), 28 Days, and The Prophecy, with Christopher Walken. Of these roles, Mortensen was probably best known for playing Master Chief John Urgayle in G.I. Jane.^[9]

Mortensen at the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, December 1, 2003.

Mortensen's major mainstream breakthrough came in 1999, when Peter Jackson cast him as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. According to the Special Extended Edition DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Mortensen was a last-minute replacement for Stuart Townsend, and would not have taken the part of Aragorn had it not been for his son's enthusiasm for the J. R. R. Tolkien novel. In the The Two Towers DVD extras, the film's swordmaster, Bob Anderson, described Mortensen as "the best swordsman I've ever trained." Mortensen often spent days hiking to the film's remote locations, in costume and carrying his sword, in order to appear authentically travel-worn; he also performed all of his own stunts, and even the injuries he sustained during several of them did not dampen his enthusiasm. At one point during shooting of The Two Towers, Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, and the scale double for John Rhys-Davies all had fairly serious injuries, and during a shoot of them, running in the mountains, Peter Jackson jokingly referred to the three as "the walking wounded." Also, according to the Special Extended Edition DVD of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Mortensen purchased the two horses, Uraeus and Kenny, whom he rode and bonded with over the duration of the films.

In 2004, Mortensen starred as Frank Hopkins in Hidalgo, the story of an ex-army courier who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous desert race for a contest prize.

In 2005, Mortensen starred in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. He was nominated for a Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for this role. In the DVD extras for A History of Violence, David Cronenberg relates that Mortensen is the only actor he'd come across who would come back from weekends with his family with items he had bought to use as props on the set.

Interviewed by eTalk Daily at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, for A History of Violence

In 2006, he starred as Captain Diego Alatriste in the Spanish language film Alatriste, based on the series of novels The Adventures of Captain Alatriste, written by the Spanish writer Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

In September 2007, the film Eastern Promises, directed by David Cronenberg, was released to critical acclaim for the film itself and for Mortensen's performance as a Russian gangster on the rise in London. His nude fight scene in a steam room was applauded by Roger Ebert: "Years from now, it will be referred to as a benchmark."^[10] Mortensen's performance in Eastern Promises resulted in his winning the Best Performance by an Actor in a British Independent Film award from the British Independent Film Awards.^[11] He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.^[12]

In 2009, Mortensen appeared as himself in the film Reclaiming The Blade,^[13] in which he discussed his passion for the sword and his sword-work in films such as The Lord of the Rings and Alatriste.^[13] Mortensen also talked about his work with Bob Anderson, the swordmaster on The Lord of the Rings, Alatriste, Pirates of the Caribbean and many others.^[13]

In 2009, Mortensen performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.^[14]

While it was reported in April 2009 that Mortensen had, at least temporarily, retired from film acting,^[15]Mortensen said he was misquoted. In a 2012 interview, he denied that he ever said he was retiring, only that his didn't have "plans to do another movie" at the time and that he was "taking a little break now. I don’t have anything lined up.”^[16]

In 2010 he joined the cast of The Road, a film adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name,^[17] and collaborated with David Cronenberg for a third time on A Dangerous Method.^[18]

After two decades, Mortensen returned to theatre in 2011, starring in Ariel Dorfman's Purgatorio in Madrid.^[19]

Perceval Press[link]

With part of his earnings from The Lord of the Rings, Mortensen founded the Perceval Press publishing house — named for the knight from the legend of King Arthur — to help other artists by publishing works that might not find a home in more traditional publishing venues.^[20]

Perceval Press is also the home of Viggo's many personal artistic projects in the area of fine arts, photography, poetry, song, and literature (see below).

Bibliography[link]

Viggo Mortensen at the 2009 Venice Film Festival.

Mortensen is also an author, with various books of poetry, photography, and painting published. His bibliography includes:

• Ten Last Night – (1993), his first collection of poetry.
• Recent Forgeries – (1998), ISBN, 5th Edition, documents Viggo's first solo exhibition and includes a CD with music and spoken-word poetry. Introduction by Dennis Hopper.
• Errant Vine – (2000), limited edition booklet of an exhibit at the Robert Mann Gallery.
• Hole in the Sun – (2002, ISBN), color and black & white photographs of a back yard swimming pool.
• SignLanguage – (2002 ISBN), a catalog from an exhibition of his works, combining photographs, paintings, and poetry into a multimedia diary of his time in New Zealand while filming The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Introduction by Kevin Power.
• Coincidence of Memory – (2002, ISBN) Third Edition. In this book, the artist combines photographs, paintings, and poems that cover his artistic output from 1978 to 2002.
• Mo Te Upoko-o-te-ika/For Wellington – (2003), ISBN, a book to accompany the joint exhibitions at Massey University and the Wellington City Gallery during the premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
• 45301 – (2003), ISBN. Abstract images, fragments, and phrases from poems comprise this photography book. Many of the photographs were shot during travels to Morocco, Cuba, and the northern plains of the United States.
• Un hueco en el sol – (2003), a small booklet published to accompany the exhibition "Un hueco en el sol" at the Fototeca de Cuba in Havana. In Spanish.
• Miyelo – (2003, ISBN-X), a series of panoramic photographs of a Lakota Ghost Dance. It also tells about the events leading up to the massacre at Wounded Knee.
• Nye Falsknerier – (2003). Paintings and poems translated into Danish from Ten Last Night, Recent Forgeries, Coincidence of Memory.
• The Horse is Good – (2004), ISBN, a photography book, partly shot during his work on the film Hidalgo, about horses as partners, teachers, and fellow travelers. Images from Morocco, South Dakota, Montana, California, Iceland, New Zealand, Denmark, Brazil, and Argentina. This book reflects Mortensen's fondness for horses. In fact, he bought Uraeus—the horse who played Brego, Aragorn's steed (Roheryn in the books) in The Lord of the Rings movies—as well as TJ, one of the horses who played Hidalgo. He also purchased the stallion that played Arwen's horse, a grey Andalusian stallion named Florian, and gave it to the stunt woman, Jane Abbott, who rode the horse in place of Liv Tyler.
• Linger – (2005). In this book, the artist combines black and white photographs and prose poems. Images from Spain (partly shot during his work on the film Alatriste), Morocco, Iceland, United States, Denmark...
• I Forget You For Ever – (2006). Texts and photographs.
• Skovbo – (2008). Collection of photographs, poems (in English, Spanish and Danish) and quotes. The book is dedicated to Howard Zinn and Dennis Kucinich and functions as a companion to the photo exhibit Skovbo at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography (2008).
• Sådanset – (2008). A small booklet published to accompany the exhibition Sådanset (October 18 – November 16, 2008) at the Palæfløjen in Roskilde (Denmark).
• Canciones de Invierno – Winter Songs – (2010). Collection of photographs and poems. Bilingual : in Spanish and English. It includes new texts (most of the poems and all the translations) and revised versions of texts previously published. They're accompanied by pictures of landscapes taken during the previous two winters.

Visual arts and discography[link]

Mortensen at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

Mortensen is a painter and photographer. His paintings are frequently abstract and often contain fragments of his poetry in them. His paintings have been featured in galleries worldwide, and the paintings of the artist he portrayed in A Perfect Murder are all his own.^{[citation needed]}

Mortensen experiments with his poetry and music by mixing the two art forms. He has collaborated with guitarist Buckethead on several albums, mostly released on his own label (Perceval Press) or TDRS Music. Viggo was first introduced to Buckethead's work while working on sounds for an educational CD on Greek mythology. The finished product included a guitar part by Buckethead, which caught Viggo's ear and led him to initiate contact with the guitarist. The collaboration grew from there.^[21]

Viggo's discography includes:

• 1994: Don't Tell Me What to Do
• 1997: One Less Thing to Worry About
• 1998: Recent Forgeries
• 1999: The Other Parade
• 1999: One Man's Meat
• 1999: Live at Beyond Baroque
• 2003: Pandemoniumfromamerica
• 2004: Live at Beyond Baroque II
• 2004: Please Tomorrow
• 2004: This, That, and The Other
• 2005: Intelligence Failure
• 2006: 3 Fools April 4
• 2007: Time Waits for Everyone
• 2008: At All
• 2010: Canciones de Invierno
• 2011: Reunion

Mortensen is featured on The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King soundtrack, singing "Aragorn's Coronation" (the name of the extended version of this song in the 3rd original sound track is "The Return of the King"), the words by Tolkien and the music composed by Mortensen. In the extended DVD edition of the first Lord of the Rings movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, he sings the song "The Lay of Beren and Lúthien". His poems are written in English, Danish, and Spanish.

Awards and honors[link]

Following his appearance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in 2006 he was granted an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, St. Lawrence University.^[4][22]

On October 13, 2006, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Province and the City of León, Spain.

On April 16, 2010, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Dannebrog.^[23]

Personal life[link]

Mortensen has a son, Henry Blake Mortensen (born January 28, 1988)^[24], with ex-wife Exene Cervenka, singer in the punk band X.^[25] His son has a minor uncredited role in the extended version of The Two Towers; and in The Return of the King, he is the first orc killed by Aragorn as he leaves the ships during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (according to Directors and Writers commentary on the DVD). He also has a brief appearance as the son of Viggo's character in Crimson Tide.

Mortensen holds dual American-Danish citizenship.^[26] He speaks fluent English, Danish and Spanish; he is also conversational in French and Italian, and understands Norwegian and Swedish. He has stated that he was raised speaking English and Spanish and at times feels more comfortable expressing himself in Spanish.^[27]

Mortensen is a hockey fan, particularly of the Montréal Canadiens. He wore a Montréal Canadiens t-shirt underneath his armour throughout the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.^[28] He is also a fan of association football and is a fan of Argentine star Diego Maradona, Héctor "Bambino" Veira, and both the Argentine and Danish national teams as well as Argentine club San Lorenzo de Almagro.^[29] In 1993, Mortensen went to Ireland during a break in shooting to watch Denmark play in a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification match. He is also a fan of the New York Mets, and in an interview promoting 2009 film The Road was seen wearing apparel indicating his support of the Australian Football League's Collingwood Magpies football club.^[30] While appearing on The Late Show With David Letterman, he held a sign supporting the New York Giants.

Mortensen was a good friend of Icelandic painter Georg Guðni Hauksson up until his death in 2011. Mortensen had long been an admirer of Hauksson's work as a landscape artist, and the two published books together as well as maintaining a close friendship.^[31][32]

Mortensen actively campaigned for Dennis Kucinich in the 2008 United States presidential election,^[33] and later endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency.^[34] He was also one of the signees of the "Toronto Declaration" protesting against spotlighting Tel-Aviv at the TIFF in 2009.^[35]

Mortensen has owned property in northern Sandpoint, Idaho, and spends time there when not filming movies.^[36]

Filmography[link]